Editing Spam (Monty Python sketch) (section)

{{short description|1970 British comedy short}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2022}}
{{Infobox song
| name       = Spam Song
| cover      = SPAM_SONG_7%22.jpg
| alt        =
| type       = single
| artist     = [[Monty Python]]
| album      = [[Another Monty Python Record]]
| B-side     = "The Concert"
| released   = 8 September 1972
| format     =
| recorded   =
| studio     =
| venue      =
| genre      = {{flatlist|
* [[Comedy]]
}}
| length     =
| label      = [[Charisma Records|Charisma]]
| writer     = {{flatlist|
* [[Michael Palin]]
* [[Terry Jones]]
* [[Fred Tomlinson (singer)|Fred Tomlinson]]
}}
| producer   = {{flatlist|
* [[Michael Palin]]
* [[Terry Jones]]
}}
| prev_title =
| prev_year  =
| next_title = [[Eric the Half-a-Bee|Eric The Half A Bee]]
| next_year  = 1972
}}

"'''Spam'''" is a [[Monty Python]] [[sketch comedy|sketch]], first televised in 1970 (series 2, episode 12, "Spam") and written by [[Terry Jones]] and [[Michael Palin]]. In the sketch, two customers are lowered by wires into a [[Cafe (British)|greasy spoon café]] and try to order a [[breakfast]] from a [[menu]] that includes [[spam (food)|Spam]] in almost every dish, much to the consternation of one of the customers. As the waitress recites the Spam-filled menu, a group of [[Viking]] patrons drown out all conversations with a song, repeating "Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam… Lovely Spam! Wonderful Spam!".<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.thegoodword.co.uk/2010/09/20/the-origin-of-the-word-spam/| title = The Origin of the word 'Spam'| agency = The Good Word| access-date = 23 August 2019| archive-date = 16 December 2019| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20191216040211/http://www.thegoodword.co.uk/2010/09/20/the-origin-of-the-word-spam/| url-status = dead}}</ref>

The excessive amount of Spam was probably a reference to the ubiquity of it and other imported [[Potted meat|canned meat products]] in the [[United Kingdom]] after [[World War II]] (a [[Rationing in the United Kingdom|period of rationing in the UK]]) as the country struggled to rebuild its agricultural base. Thanks to its wartime ubiquity, the British public had grown tired of it.<ref name="Longmate"/>

The televised sketch and several subsequent performances feature [[Terry Jones]] as the waitress, [[Eric Idle]] as Mr. Bun and [[Graham Chapman]] as Mrs. Bun, who does not like Spam. The original sketch also featured [[John Cleese]] as [[Dirty Hungarian Phrasebook|The Hungarian]] and Palin as a historian, but this part was left out of the audio version of the sketch recorded for the team's second album ''[[Another Monty Python Record]]'' (1971). A year later this track was released as the Pythons' first [[Single (music)|7" single]].

The use of the term ''[[Spamming|spam]]'' for unsolicited [[electronic communications]] is derived from this sketch.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/spam |title=Spam &ndash; Definition and More from the Free Merriam-Webster Dictionary |publisher=Merriam-webster.com |date=31 August 2012 |access-date=5 July 2013}}</ref>